Youth baseball league a hit

By JON MOFFETT

The Youngstown Police Athletic League kicked off another sport Wednesday.

YOUNGSTOWN — Hundreds of smiling faces, most of them missing a few teeth, were on display Wednesday afternoon at the Stambaugh Academy School.

Among many enthusiastic parents, children ages 5-12 paraded between the rusted fences of two baseball fields to kick off Opening Day for the Youngstown Police Athletic League’s inaugural baseball program.

The league, which was set up in an effort to give area children athletic options, is one of what could be many possibilities for them to take advantage of.

“What we’re trying to do is, we want to have athletic leagues for the youth around the city 12 months out of the year,” said Edward Colon, the league’s executive director. “We want kids to go from basketball to baseball to football or whatever. There are a lot of kids in this area that don’t have exposure to these athletic activities, and it’s sad because there are a ton of kids around with athletic ability who aren’t getting to show it.”

The leagues are primarily free of charge, with a few minor expenses for equipment such as gloves as exceptions, and open to all children who wish to participate.

“It means a lot,” said one Youngstown mom who has two kids involved in the league, but didn’t want to give her name. “For one, it’s not as expensive as some other leagues. And it’s good to see the community come together like this,” she said.

As much of a relief as it is for parents, the league is really about the children.

“I like to run and hit and play with my cousins,” said Briana Sherman, 8, of Youngstown.

The baseball league has 388 kids signed up to participate. This is the second athletic league that the Youngstown Police have created for the children. A youth basketball league was set up this past January, with a respectable turnout. Colon hopes that participation and interest continue to grow, and encourages parents to continue to sign their children up.

“Children may not be able to commit to the whole thing, so we are always bringing more kids in. If they signed up too late, they’re put on a mailing list and they’ll get information about our other upcoming leagues. Since this is our first year, right now we’re just trying to get a feel to see what children in the community want to participate in,” Colon said.

Maybe the most important aspect of the league is the relationships that are formed between the children and their coaches, many of whom are Youngstown Police officers.

“We utilize police officers as mentors and supervisors for all of the activities. We hope that by doing this, through our youth participation, they learn to view officers in different light. By doing that, we hope it will help them learn to respect the laws these officers represent,” he said. “Also, we feel like this is our way of giving back to the community, to help the kids in the community.”

The Youngstown Police Athletic League plans to feature flag football and boxing in the fall, with hopefully more options to follow.

“We started with basketball, we’re doing baseball now, then flag football and we have boxing, but that’s not it. We could easily add golf or bowling, depending on what the community wants,” added Colon.